Cooking Class with a Market Visit in Ho Chi Minh City: Which One to Book
4 min read
The short answer
Take the immersive cooking class and market tour with a chef if you want the most reviewed option: €30.25 per person, 4.8 / 5 from 985 reviews. Choose the Ben Thanh Market cooking class (€34.99) if a fixed morning schedule and a meeting point at the market suit you better. Both walk you through Ben Thanh Market before you cook.
The chef-led class
The page lists 3 to 4 hours, a three-course menu plus dessert, and a guided walk through Ben Thanh Market to see how meat and vegetables are bought. Each guest has a private cooking station with the ingredients provided, and the class ends with a sit-down meal of what you cooked. A cookbook with more than 25 recipes is part of the experience, and vegetarian options are available on request. Instruction is in English and Vietnamese. The page lists two meeting points, depending on the option you choose.
Age: the page says it is not suitable for children under 7.
The Ben Thanh Market class
This one has a precise timetable on its page: the market visit runs from 9:00 to 9:50 AM, the chef brings the group by taxi to the kitchen, and the cooking class runs from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM, four hours in all. You meet at the west entrance of Ben Thanh Market. The class cooks a three-course meal, each person with their own equipment and ingredients, and the page says MSG and seasoning powders are not used. Menus can be adapted for vegetarians and for allergies if you tell the school in advance. Iced tea, water and a digital recipe book are listed.
How to choose
- Want the most reviewed, with a cookbook: the chef-led class.
- Want to know the exact times and meeting spot before you book: the Ben Thanh Market class.
- Cooking with a child under 7: the chef-led class lists itself as not suitable for children under 7; for the Ben Thanh Market class, ask the school about a minimum age before you book.
- Vegetarian or allergies: both pages say the menu can be adapted; tell them when you book.
Not a full class?
If a half-day is too much, there are shorter things to do with coffee: an egg coffee course (€18.75, 2 hours, four coffees including egg and sea-salt coffee) and a coffee workshop for beginners (€25.94, 1.5 hours, three coffees and a bánh mì dessert). Their pages list the egg coffee course as not suitable for children under 5, pregnant women or people with back problems, and the workshop as not suitable for children under 12, pregnant women, vegans or people with lactose or gluten intolerance, heart problems or high blood pressure. To eat your way through the city instead of cooking, see Saigon street food tour: scooter or walking. All 15 cooking classes in Ho Chi Minh City start from €16.35.
